Charlie and I.... See the Difference?

      In the book The Perks of Being a Wallflower by: Stephen Chbosky, the protagonist Charlie is having trouble finding his place in the world. He doesn't have many friends and he doesn't really fit in with any groups in school. In the beginning of the book, Charlie is a freshman in high school who has no friends, has never kissed a girl, and has never had a girlfriend. When he gets to school, he meets a boy and a girl, who's names were Patrick and Sam. The two step-siblings are seniors so they're more experienced that Charlie, and they explain every thing that Charlie doesn't understand about life. They became a group and started doing things together such as going to sporting events, going to parties, and going to put on performances of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Through out the book, Charlie is writing to an anonymous friend who he tells everything too.

    In a lot of ways, Charlie is just like me. For example, Charlie enjoys reading and writing for fun. Not for school and not because he wants to. He reads extra books and writes book reports on them, separate from schoolwork. His English teacher, Bill, is one of his "friends" through out the book. He gives him classic books to read and talks to him about them when he finishes reading them. While reading these books, he connects things that are happening to the main character, to his own life. I love to read and write in my free time. I mostly read books in which I can connect to the main character. Charlie also likes music, mostly the Smiths. He realizes this after his older sister gives him a mix tape that was made for her by a boy. His favorite song by the group is 'Asleep.' (Click on the link to listen) While he's thinking to himself, Charlie thinks about mix tapes. He loves the idea of being able to hold all of his favorite songs in one little plastic box. He says "I am starting to see a real trend in the kind of books Bill gives me to read. And just like the tape of songs, it is amazing to hold each of them in the palm of my hand. They are all my favourites. All of them." Charlie means that he likes the idea of being able to hold such knowledge in his hand.

   Charlie and I are also really different. For example, Charlie is really socially awkward. He doesn't really know how to make friends and he doesn't really know a lot about the outside world. He's always asking questions. He doesn't really know how to act around other teenagers and that's why he always depends on Sam, Patrick, and sometimes his older sister. For instance, when he has his first real girlfriend he had to ask Sam for advice about everything that he did. Another way that Charlie and I are different is he is really emotional. He cries about everything. I didn't notice though that he really only gets emotional when he has time to think back to himself about everything around him. 

 In conclusion, Charlie and I may have things in common and differences, but we are both teenagers who are misunderstood by the people around us. It's really important to try to think about the similarities and differences between the main character in your book. The reason being because it helps relate to the story more and also helps you connect to the character and feel for them. 

If you have any thoughts or responses comment below!

Let your True Colors Shine

What would you do if someone walked up to you and told you they were your Fairy Godfather? Would you be scared, confused? Well, Vincent isn't sure how he feels in the short story "Am I Blue?" by: Bruce Coville. Vincent is the protagonist of the story, and he gets bullied constantly by a kid named Butch Carrigan. Butch always calls him names that refer to people who are Gay. Now. the main character isn't sure if he is gay or not, but his bully doesn't seem to care either way. One day, Butch pushes Vincent on the ground, and walks away. All of a sudden a man (who Vincent describes to the reader as a tall man with dark hair, a mustache, kind of handsome, with a gold ring in his left ear who looked to be in his thirties.) The man introduced himself as Melvin, the boys Fairy Godfather. At first Vincent thinks that the man is making fun of him and tried to make him go away, but then realizes that he really does want to help him out.

 I think that Bruce Coville added Melvin into the story so that the reader could see how Vincents thinking changed from the beginning of the book.  At the beginning of the book, Vincent isn't sure whether or not he is gay. He doesn't want to be seen as gay by his peers and he's embarrassed by his confusion. He feels insecure about himself and that's why he lets Butch push him around.

Melvins job through out the story is to show Vince that it's okay to be gay. Melvin lets Vince have the power to see people as blue if they are gay. By having this power, he is able to realize that if he is gay, he isn't alone and shouldn't feel ashamed or embarrassed. He says towards the end "All right, I suppose you're wondering about me- as in, was I blue? The answer is, slightly." At this point in the story, the protagonist has changed from the beginning of the story. He went from being ashamed of being see with a homosexual, to accepting that he is in fact bisexual himself.

I think that the way that Bruce Coville ended the story was amazing. He ended it by saying ""And my third wish? I've decided to save it for when I meet the girl of my dreams. Or Prince Charming. Whichever."
I think that the theme of the book is that you shouldn't be ashamed of what other people think of you. No matter what race, size, hair color, nationality, or sexuality you are, you shouldn't be afraid to let other people see your true colors.

 

The Drummer Boy of Shiloh

      As a class, we recently read the short story "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh" by Ray Bradbury. It's a short story about a boy named Joby, who is the drummer boy in the army. During the beginning of the book, the author hints that Joby isn't sure about his job. He doesn't feel like his job is as important as everyone elses.  All of the other boys are fighting on the battlefield, fighting for their country, but he's just playing a drum. While Joby was thinking to himself, he said "Me, thought the boy, I got only a drum, two sticks to beat it, and no shield." This quote in the story made me start thinking as a reader. I don't think that he means that he doesn't have a physical shield (made of steel or wood) but I think that he means that he doesn't have protection in general. He's just a kid, but everyone around him in grown and can fight and defend themselves. Think of a time when you've felt small, or a time when you were around people older than you. That's how Joby feels at this point in the story.

   Joby finally started feeling more confident about himself and his part in the war when the General had a conversation with him. He was explaining to Joby that he's going to be the heart of the army when the general is gone. He asked Joby “Youʼll run them through for me then, boy?” The author let the reader (me) realize how Joby's point of view changed by having him answer with a confident "Yes, sir." This part in the story let me, as a reader see how Joby changed his mind about himself from the beginning of the story.

   Have you ever felt like Joby? Have you ever felt small or less powerful than everyone around you? Do you have low confidence about yourself? Well, if so, just think of Joby. At first, he didn't feel like a big part, but he realized his part finally, it just took someone else to show it to him. Sometimes it just takes longer to find your place in the world. In conclusion, everyone has a part in the world, but it takes everyone a different amount of time to find theirs.


If you'd like to read this story and think about it for yourself, click here.

Post #2 Glass By: Ellen Hopkins

     The book Glass by: Ellen Hopkins is told through the point of view of the main character Kristina Snow(who also has an alternate personality named Bree.) At the beginning of the series (the first book: Crank,) Kristina was a normal high school nerd. Then, she goes and vists her dad, who, she comes to learn is a heavy crystal meth user. While she's with him, she meets Adam, who gets her hooked on Meth herself. When she goes home, she goes on a date with this guy named Brendan. When they're in his car, he sexually assaults her. She gets pregnant and at the end of the book has a beautiful baby boy named Hunter. Kristina's dad hasn't really been in her life too often. A while back, he left his wife and two daughters (Kristina and Leigh, her older sister) and moved to Albuquerque. He isn't a good role model because he was the reason that Kristina ever got involved with drugs in general. If she never would have been court-ordered to visit him a year ago, she wouldn't be in the current state that she's in now: fighting with her mom and having to lie to her on top of that.

  When her addiction gets really bad, and Bree is starting to take control over her more, she calls her old best friend Robyn. Robyn went away to college this year, something Kristina couldn't do because of Hunter. The reason Kristina called her was because she knew that Robyn would be able to get her a pretty reasonable stash for the weeks to come. She gets to her apartment early and while she's waiting on the stairs, she meets Trey, Robyn's roommate. Before Kristina leaves, she trades number with Trey so that they could hook-up the next time he was in Reno because he figures her supply will be gone by then. When they meet up, they end up going on two dates: one that wasn't a REAL date. . . but it was just him selling drugs to her in his car. The second one started at a local Starbucks but ended up at Treys cousin Brads house. Trey and Kristina grow closer and closer as a couple and through out the rest of the book, they grow closer together as a "couple."  


       The conflict in through out the whole story with Kristina, the protagonist, is that she is addicted to Monster. No matter how hard she tries to quit, it's too addicting and the chemicals (and Bree) take control of her. When her mother kicked her out and kept Hunter, she moved in with Treys cousin and his two daughters (Latreya and Devon), he was even closer to Trey, which means he was even closer to the Monster. When the real mother of Latreya and Devon returned home, Kristina was forced to move out. That's when her a Trey moved in to an apartment together. They got Hunter back, but not too long after, lost him again because of their drug dealing. The couple uses too much of their sale because of their strong addiction and don't have enough to sell to their customers. In order to get money, Kristina has to steal from her own mother. They soon get caught and plan to flee the state but they fall asleep in Treys car and get busted while sleeping for having a half pound of glass in the car with them. The resolution to Kristinas problem is that her and Trey end up going to jail where she is forced to detox from the Monster. Soon after she's in jail, she discovers that she's pregnant with Treys baby. I think that it's a good thing that she has detoxed from drugs because now she'll have the chance to prove to her mother (if she even wants anything to do with her) that she is healthy now and is in fact a fit mother.

Summer Reading Book Response

The Outsiders

By: S.E. Hinton

 

   Over the summer, I read the book The Outsiders by S.E.Hinton. The main character of the book is Pony Boy Curtis who lives with his two older brothers Sodapop and Darrel (who they call Darry) and is 14 years old.  Their parents died in a car accident and through out the whole book Pony Boy has dreams about them and how his life would be different if they were still alive. Darry takes care of Sodapop and Pony Boy by roofing house's, he is 20 years old. In the book, the boys are part of a gang called the Greasers. Their friends are Johnny, Dallas, Steve and Two-Bit. Johnny comes from an abusive home where his parents are always fighting. He tries to stay out of the house as much as possible so he is almost always at the Curtis' house. Dallas is from New York and known as the toughest of the gang because he went to jail when he was only 10 years old. Steve works at the DX gas station with Sodapop who is also his best friend. He's never been too fond of Pony Boy because he's Sodapops kid brother. Two-Bits real name is Keith Matthews but they call him "two-bit" because he always has to get his "two-bits" into everything.

  The beginning of the book started with Ponyboy leaving the movie theater. He's the only one in his family who was actually interested in something other than fighting. He was walking home by himself when a couple of Soc's (rich, middle class kids) called out "Greaser!" They got out of their blue Madra and pushed him around. "Need a haircut, Greaser?" one of them yelled out as he pulled out his knife. They held it up to his neck and he realized that they could kill him. They suddenly just walked away just as Dally was running up to Ponyboy, now laying on the ground, and picked him up and shook him. S.E. Hinton most likely started the book with this scene to show the situation and living conditions that the characters live in. This scene sets up the rest of the story by showing how often fighting is used to solve issues or just for fun. 

 I think that this book is a good read for any teenager because it’s not like most other books. Most books today are all about the same thing or have the same plot: They have one or two main characters, a problem occurs, they solve the problem, and then the story is over. The Outsiders isn’t like that.  S.E. Hinton really went into detail about everything that was going on in the story. Instead of just having one problem in the main characters life (in this case, Ponyboy), she had more than one at a time. For instance, Johnny killed a Soc in a fight that had been started in the park (that’s one problem) then there was a terrible fire at the school that was near where the boys ran away from the cops to. Another problem was that after the fire, Johnny got fatally sick and was put in the hospital.

This book has been a classic since 1967 and has been passed down from generation to generation. It will always be a favorite no matter how old you are. The situations and issues that occur in this book can be related to no matter what age you are, there’s something in there for everyone. There aren’t a lot of books today that can really suck you in and grab your attention and make you hungry to read more and more, but this book does just that. Like I said before, newer books all have the same plot and the same problems but just different names of characters and settings. I don’t know of any book that has been released in the past 5 years that I would read more than once, or I would read on my own. The Outsiders will always be a “new read” to me every time I read it because if you really enjoy a book, every time you read it, you get a new meaning. I can’t wait to read the follow up book “Rumble Fish” next!